Liverpool creative collective PSYCHO COMEDY will release their highly anticipated debut album, ‘Performance Space Number One’, on 14 February 2020. A love letter to the city they call home, the vices that squeeze tight, and the spectres of the New York-scene who continue to whisper in their ears; it’s perhaps no coincidence that the band’s long-awaited first record will arrive this Valentine’s Day.
Acolytes of the East Coast alternative scene that incubated that side of the pond in the 60s, Psycho Comedy’s sound drips with the feedback, fury and freakishness distilled from its leading lights, from the Velvets to the Stooges and on. Yet scratch the surface, and it’s not just sonically you’ll identify Psycho Comedy as fit to carry their mantle. With a renegade attitude embedded in the heart and soul of their art, the band’s upcoming release ‘Performance Space Number One’ sees them dare to defy convention with a record they proudly (and somewhat radically) define as a “concept album”. A notion once the preserve of the prog-rock elite, cast away any preconceptions of Worlds at War, Bricks in Walls and pinball-playing whizz kids, here Psycho Comedy tear-up the rule book with a record that is an altogether darker, sinister and psychologically-probing affair.
In essence, ‘Performance Space Number One’ seeks to capture and depict on record the ephemeral mindset of the Psycho Comedy’s own vocalist, lyricist and frontman: Shaun Powell. Each of the 13 tracks that comprise the album individually derives something different from Powell’s conflicting psyche; from battling the harsh realism of modern life with the surrealist temptation of debauchery, darkness and nostalgia.
Listen to latest single: ‘Standin’ – BELOW:
An often tense and troubling listen, true to their artistic vision, the recording process was at times equally as fraught with drama, delusions and insomnia; factors that intrinsically play into ‘Performance Space Number One’s twitching authenticity and electrifying unpredictability. Written over the summer of 2019, the album was recorded and produced in multiple sessions by accomplished producer Rob Whiteley (BC Camplight) at Whitewood Studios in Liverpool, whose steady hands guided the project through challenging waters to its final destination.
Speaking about the recording process, Psycho Comedy reflects:
“We worked with Robert Whiteley (BC Camplight) in the late summer of 2019 who was extremely patient in trying to create the Psycho Comedy sound – Shaun had zero hours sleep before recording all vocals on the record to reflect the demeanour and theme of all songs.”
Creatively and audibly, ‘Performance Space Number One,’ is a record unlike any you’re likely to hear this year and a debut that is nothing short of remarkable. Saturated in the deconstructive sounds of New York punk and delivered with a crazed power-against-music, this is a collection that struts and sleazes around every corner, whilst beat poetry infiltrates and reiterates its complex and cryptic messages with activist colour.
With recent singles ‘Pick Me Up,’ and ‘Standin’ both championed by such legendary taste-makers as Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson of BBC Radio 6 Music; the collective now look to bring their delirious vision fully into focus with the release of their conceptual masterstroke ‘Performance Space Number One’ this year.
Released by independent label Silver Machine Recordings, the record will be available on vinyl, cassette and all streaming platforms.
Ahead of the release, Psycho Comedy will preview tracks from the album at a series of UK dates with Mick Head, before an official album launch show on 15th February at Liverpool’s Phase One. Fans attending the launch show will also be able to pick up a limited edition Valentine’s Day Bundle.
Full dates and details are as follows:
PSYCHO COMEDY – 2020 LIVE DATES
JANUARY
21st – MANCHESTER, Gorilla **
24th – LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club **
FEBRUARY
2nd – LONDON, Earth **
15th – LIVERPOOL, Phase One – ALBUM LAUNCH SHOW
** w/ Mick Head
Tickets for all shows on sale now.
Psycho Comedy is an art collective from Liverpool. Since their formation in 2015, they have now grown into a group of seven with a poet (Matthew Thomas Smith) and an in-house artist (Sophia Rose Powell) now frequent collaborators with the unit. In their work, Psycho Comedy aim to paint a world not only through rock’n’roll music but through many forms of art, including poetry, photography and film.
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